Speed-varying power transmission assembly



Jan. 8, 1952 P. B. REEVES SPEED-VARYING POWER TRANSMISSION ASSEMBLY I5Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 31. 1949 IN ENTOR.

ATT'O/FATK P. B. REEVES 2,582,067

SPEED-VARYING POWER TRANSMISSION ASSEMBLY 31. 1949 s Sheets-Sheet 2 Jan.8, 1952 Filed Dec.

Jan. 8, 1952 P. REEVES 2,582,067

SPEED-VARYING POWER TRANSMISSION ASSEMBLY Filed Dec. 51. 1 949 sSheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. 34oz 3 FE'Z'VIEZS,

Patented Jan. 8, 1952 TENT OFFICE SPEED-VARYING POWER TRANSIWISSIONASSEMBLY Paul B. Reeves, Columbus, Ind., assignor to Reeves PulleyCompany, Columbus, Ind., a corporation of Indiana Application December31, 1949, Serial No. 136,201

9 Claims. (Cl. 74-23017) The present invention relates to aspeed-varying power transmission assembly and more particularly to aself-contained unit, adapted to be sold for installation between acustomers motor, or other power-delivering shaft, and the customersmachine to provide for incrementalvariation of the speed at which poweris delivered from such motor or other shaft to the machine. Moreparticularly, it is a primary object of the present invention to providea novel unit which, as a unitary assembly, may be installed betweensubstantially any source of rotary power and a machine to be driven,.and which, when so installed, will be complete in itself to providedesired speed variation between the power source and the machine to bedriven.

A further object of the invention is to provide suspension means for avariable-effectivediameter pulley, in association with a resilientlyvariable pulley, of such character that, when a driving shaft isassociated with said first-named pulley, axial adjustment of saiddriving shaft will vary the speed ratio of the pulley pair. A furtherobject of the invention is to provide, in an assembly of the characterabove described, support means .for a driving motor so associated withthe other parts of the assembly as to provide for such axial adjustmentof the motor to vary the speed ratio of the assembly. A further objectof the invention is to provide a novel base or housing, so constructedas to be mounted selectively in either of two alternative positions upona standard adapted to be fixed to afloor or other supporting surface.Still further objects of the invention will appear as the descriptionproceeds.

' To the accomplishment of the above and related objects, my inventionmay be embodied in the forms illustrated in the accompanying drawings,attention being called to the fact, however,

that the drawings are illustrative only, and that change may be made inthe specific constructions illustrated and described, so long as thescope of the appended claims is not violated.

'- Fig. 1 is a side elevation of an assembly constructed in accordancewith my invention, a driving motor, adapted to be associated therewith,being suggested in broken lines;

'Fig. 2 is an end elevation thereof as viewed from the right of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section therethrough, taken substantially on theline 3-3 of Fig. 2, certain parts being shown in elevation;

Fig. 4 is a vertical section taken substantially on the line 4--4 ofFig. 3;

. Fig. 5 is a vertical section, drawn to an enlar'ged scale, of thespeed-varying pulley pair and associated parts, taken upon the, planecommon to the axes of the pulleys;

Fig. 6 is an end elevation of the unit of Fig. 1, taken from the leftthereof, the cover or casing being shown in section; and

Fig. 7 is an enlarged, fragmental section, taken in the plane of Fig. 3,and showing a modified form of actuating means.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, it will be seen that I haveshown an assembly comprising a base or housing indicated generally bythe reference numeral 1 0 and including a pair of opposite end walls Hand I2, a pair of opposite side walls l3 and I 4, perpendicular to, theend walls, and a further pair of side walls 15 and I6, perpendicular tothe end walls and to the side walls l3 and I4. The end walls II and Hare formed to support, respectively, aligned bearings I! and I8providing journal mountings for shafting indicated by thereferencenumeral l9, and including a section 20 projecting outwardlybeyond the wall II, and a section 2Iprojecting outwardly beyond the walll2. As will appear from the following description, the sections 20 and2| may be integral portions of a single shaft, or they may be separate,and independently rotatable elements connected by a suitable drivingtrain.

The section 20 is adapted to be operatively connected to drive anydesired machine (not shown); while a resiliently-expansible V-pulley,indicated generally by the reference numeral 22 and having operativelyassociated therewith a preloaded spring unit indicated generally by thereference numeral 23, is assembled on the projecting section 2| outsidethe base or housing l0.

Supported upon the external surface of the wall l2, and laterally onopposite sides of the shaft axis, I provide two bracket arms 24 and25,each having a broadened foot 25 or 2'! bearing against said wall andsecured thereto by screws 28 or other equivalent fastening means. Eachsuch bracket arm. inclines outwardly and away from the axis of theshafting Hi to a point axially beyond the outermost portion of thepulley 22 and radially spaced from said axis a distance substantiallygreater than the radius of such pulley. At that point, a gimbal ring,indicated generally by the reference numeral 29, is supported betweensaid bracket arms.

As is most clearly illustrated in Fig. 5, the gimbal ring 29 comprises aclosed yoke or ring 30 mounted for oscillation about the common axis ofpins 3! and 32 (Fig. 6) respectively carried by the bracket arms 25 and24. As shown, that common axis lies in a plane parallel with thehorizontal race 49 of said bearing 3! is, in turn, confined between ashoulder 4! and aisnap ring 42 on the hub 43 of a coned disc 44, wherebysaid disc is supported, through said bearing and the gimbal ring, fromthe bracket arms 24 and 25. The coned face 45 of the disc 44 ispresented generally toward the base in. V

A mating coned disc 45 is formed with a hub 41 telescopically receivedin the hub 43, a key 48 providing a rotary driving connectiontherebetween While permitting relative axial movement thereof. The conedface 49 of the disc 46 is presented generally away from the base l9 sothat the two discs cooperate to form a variable-effective-diameterV-pulley, indicated generally by thereference numeral 52. Preferably,the remote end of the hub 41 will be formed to provide a lubricantpassage 59 in which may be mounted a pressure fitting A coned disc 53,has an elongated hub 54 projecting from its coned face 51, said hubbeing provided, at its rear end, with an axial socket 55 in which isreceived the projecting end of the shafting section 2|, said hub beingfixed to said shafting section by suitable means such as a setscrew 55.presented away from the base ID. A mating coned disc 58 is mounted withits coned face 59 presented toward the base IELthrough the medium of itshub 59 which is telescopically sleeved on the hub 54, a key Blestablishing a rotary driving connection between said hubs whilepermitting relative axial movement therebetween. The two discs 53 and 58thus cooperate to form the variable-effective-diameter V-pulley 22.

The spring unit 23 preferably comprises an inner shell 82 having aninturned flange 63 at one end thereof bearing upon an annular seatformed on the disc 58; an outer shell 34 having an open inner endtelescopically associated-with the open outer end of the shell 62, and arelatively heavy annular flange 65 at its outer end threadedly engagedwith the threaded outer end 66 of the hub 54; and a heavy coiled spring61 confined between the remote ends of the shells 62 and 64 .It will beobvious that the spring acts upon the disc 58 and, through the shell 64,upon the disc 52, to resist relative axial separating movement of saiddiscs.

- Preferably, the outer end of the hub 54 will be formed to provide alubricant passage 68 in which may be mounted a pressure fitting 69.

An edge-active belt of generally V cross section, provides a drivingconnection between the pulleys 22 and 52 in a manner well understood inthe art to which this invention pertains.

A cover or casing H will preferably be provided to house thetransmission parts above described; said cover being secured to the basein any suitable fashion. In the illustrated. embodiment' of n theinvention, I have shown (Fig. 6) the cover provided with lateralinwardly-directed cars .12 through which may pass screws '13 taking intotapped sockets in the bracket arms 24 and 25: and I have further shownscrews 13 passing through external flanges on the cover (I and engagingin suitable sockets in the base wall l2.

The cover will preferably be apertured at 14 and E5 to provide access tothe fittings 5| and 69.

Within the base If), adjacent the wall I4 thereof and parallel theretoand extending in the direction of lengthof the shafting I9, I provideguide means comprising a pair of laterally spaced rods 76. A platform11, located substantially in the plane of, and constituting a part of,the wall I4, is provided with a plurality (four, in the illustratedembodiment) of depending perforated ears l8 slidably mounted on saidrods 16, so that said platform is guided for free reciprocation, in a'pIaneparallel to the shafting [9, toward and away from the bracket arms24 and 25, the gimbal ring 29, and the disc 44 supported thereby.

A plate '19 is adjustably mounted on said platform, through screws 80,for adjustable positioning relative to said platform, and said plate isproportioned and designed to act as a base or bed for any availableelectric motor or other source of rotary power, suggested in brokenlines in Figs. 1, 3, 4 and 5, and indicated by the reference numeral 8|.The plate 19 may be adjusted in position both longitudinally andlaterally, rela- The coned face 57 of the disc 53 is tive to theplatform 11, through the medium of suitable slots, or multiple andsuitably distributed holes, through which the screws 89 pass intoengagement with the platform 11; and said plate may further be adjustedin elevation relative to the platform by shimming, or the like. At anyrate, the motor or the power source will be so located, by adjustment ofsaid plate 19, as to dis-. pose the axis of its spindle 82, or the like,sub.- stantially in horizontal and vertical planes including the pointof intersection of the axes of the pins 3| and 32 and the pins 33 and34. The adjacent end of the hub 41 of the disc is socketed, as at 83,whereby said disc hub may be sleeved on said spindle and drivinglyconnected thereto, as by a key 84; and said hub is further provided witha set screw 85 whereby it may be fixedly secured against axial movementrelative 7 to said spindle 82.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, a rackblock 86 is suitably fixed to the lower surface of the platform 11between the rods 16, a rock shaft 81 is journalled in the base walls l5and I6, and a pinion 88, fixed to said rock shaft, meshes with the rack86. An operating handle 89 is fixed to the shaft 81 outside the wall I5.

In the embodiment of Fig. '7, a lever 90 is keyed to the shaft 81 andprojects substantially radially therefrom, While an ear 9| depends fromthe platform 11 substantially in the plane of oscillation of the lever90. A link 92 has one end pivoted as at 93 to the free end of the lever90, and its other end pivoted as at 94 to the ear 9|, to convertoscillation of said lever 90 into reciprocation of the platform 11. Ineither form of actuating means, the handle 89 will preferably beprovided with a pointer I01 sweeping a scale I98 suitably marked on thewall I5.

If the shafting l9 comprises independently rotatable sections 29 and 2I, a speed-reducing gear, suggested in broken lines in Fig. 3 andindicated genreally by the reference numeral 95, may be housed in-the,base Hi. In such event, the reducing gear will preferably include aframe 96 in which will be journalled the adjacent ends of the shaftingsections. A pinion 91, fixed to the shafting section 2|, will mesh witha gear 98 on a jack shaft 99 journalled in the frame 96, and a pinion noon the jack shaft will mesh" wit a The Wall 13 is provided with aplurality 01 gear- Hll on the shaf-ting section '20.

tapped sockets I02 for the reception of screws lll3-wherebya standardI04 may be removably secured to said wall, as shown in Figs. l-4. The;wall 16 is similarly provided with similarly spaced j sockets I05,whereby the standardlM-may be al -i ternatively secured to said wall l6,as suggested in broken lines in Figs. 2 and 4, in which case, of course,the'entire assembly above described will be turned on its side, so thatthe pulley axes will :be horizontally, rather than vertically, In eithercase,'screws or bolts I06 maybe passed through suitable open spaced fromeach other.

clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. l, the plat-' form I1, and themotor 8! supported thereon, will be shifted to the right. The disc 46,being fixed to the motor spindle 82, will be correspondingly shifted;but the disc 44, being supported from the gimbal ring, will be heldagainst axial movement. The pressure exerted on the belt 10 by the discfaces 45 and 49 being thus relaxed, the belt'lfl may. slip more deeplybetween said faces; and. the pressure of the spring 61 on the disc 58will cause the latter disc to move toward the disc5'3, thus taking upthe slack in the belt and maintaining driving pressure between the beltand both pulleys. In this fashion, the effective diameter of the pulley52 is reduced, while that of the pulley 22 is increased, to reduce thespeed at which the shafting l9 will be rotated, though the velocity ofthe spindle 82 remains constant:

Counter-clockwise movement of the handle 89 will, of course, move thedisc 46 toward the disc 44, thus squeezing the belt outwardly betweenthe faces 45 and 49 and pulling it more deeply between the faces 51 and59 to move the disc. 58 toward the left against the tendency of thespring 61 and increasing the velocity at which the shafting I 9 will bedriven.

I claim as my invention:

1. A variable-speed power transmitting ;uriit comprising a base, a shaftjournalled in said base, a resiliently-expansible V-pulley mounted onsaid shaft, said base including hanger means, a gimbal ring supportedfrom said hanger meansfan expansible V-pulley comprising a coned discsup- 2 ported from said gimbal ring and having a hub, and a mating coneddisc having a hub telescopically associated with the hub of saidfirst-named disc, an edge-active belt providin a driving connectionbetween said pulleys, guide means mounted on said base, slide meanssupported on "said guide means for movement toward and away from saidhanger means in a direction generally parallel with the axis of saidshaft, and means projecting from said base for shifting said .slidemeans, said base including a pair of opposite walls perpendicular tosaid shaft axis, a second pair of opposite walls parallel with saidshaft axis, and a third pair of opposite walls parallel with said shaftaxis and perpendicular to -i'said second pair of walls, said guide meansbeingla'djacent one of said second pair of walls and parallel thereto, astandard, and means for removably attaching said standard alternativelyto the other of said'second'pair of walls or to one of saiid' third pairof-walls. f v 2pA variable-speed power transmitting 'u-nit comprisingabase, a shaft'journalled in said base,"

a resiliently-expansible v-pulley mounted on said shaft, said baseincluding hanger meansja gimbal ring supported from 1 said hanger means;an expansible V-'-pulley comprising a coned disc supported from saidgimbal ring and having-a;

hub, and a mating coned disc having a hub tele s copic'ally associatedwith the hub ofsaid firstnamed disc, an edge-active belt providing adriv-' ing connection between said pulleys, a standard, and means forremovably attaching said stand: ard alternatively to either of twoadjacent, angularly relatedsurfaces of said'base parallel to said shaft.

3. A variable-speed power transmitting unit comprising a'base, a shaftjournalled in said'base, aconed disc fixed on said shaft with its conedface presented away from said base, a mating coned disc supported fromsaid shaft" for "axial.

reciprocation relative thereto with its coned face presented toward theconed face of said firstnamed disc, spring means operatively associatedwith said discs and continuously resisting movement of said second-nameddisc away from said first-named disc, hanger means supported from saidbase and projecting to a point axially beyond the outermost position ofsaid second-named disc and radially spaced from the axis thereof,trunnion means supported by said hanger means at such point, an elementsupported on said trunnion means for oscillation about an axisperpendicular to a plane including the axis of said shaft, a membersupported from said element for oscillation about an axis perpendicularto said trun nion axis, a thrust bearing fixedly carried by said member,a third coned disc axially-fixedly supported from said bearing with itsconed face presented toward said base, a fourth coned disc having a hubcoaxially telescopically associated with said third coned disc for axialmovement relative thereto with its coned face presented toward the conedface of said third disc, and an edge-active belt providing a drivingconnection between the first and second discs and the third and fourthdiscs.

4. The unit of claim 3 including guide means supported on said frame,slide means mounted on said guide means for reciprocation longitudinallyof said shaft, said slide means being adapted to support a rotorparallel with said shaft to move with said slide means, means journalledon said base and operable to reciprocate said slide means, and means forfixing said fourth disc to said rotor to move therewith.

5. The unit of claim 4 in which said slide means is provided with arack, said last-named means comprising a rock shaft arranged upon anaxis transverse to the axis of said shaft, a pinion fixed to said rockshaft and meshing with said rack, and handle means fixed to said rockshaft and located outside said base.

6. The unit of claim 4 in which said last-named means comprises a rockshaft arranged upon an axis transverse to the axis of said shaft, an armfixed to said rock shaft and projecting substantially radiallytherefrom, a link having one end pivotally connected to said arm and oneend pivotally connected to said slide means, and handle means fixed tosaid rock shaft and located outside said base.

7. A variable-speed power transmitting unit a psaoen comprising a pairof end walls and tour side walls defining a chamber, shafting journaledin said end walls and having sections projecting oppositely outside saidchamber, guide means arranged adjacent one of said side walls insubstantial parallelism with said shafting, slide means mounted on saidguide means for reciprocation therealong and including a platformforming apart of said one wall, a resiliently-expansi ble V-pulleymounted on the portion of said shafting projecting beyond one end wall,a pair of bracket arms supported on said one wall and projectingoutwardly therefrom beyond said pulley and beyond the plane of saidplatform, a thrust bearing, means supporting said bearing from saidbracket arms, an expansible V-pulley comprising a coned disc supportedfrom said bearing and a mating coned disc having a hub coaxiallytelescopically associated with said firstnamed disc, means for shiftingsaid slide means along said guide means, and an edge-active beltproviding a driving connection between said pulleys. V

gear housed in said chamber, said 'opPOsitelyprojecting sections of saidshafting being independently rotatable, and said gear. providing adriving connection-'therebetween,

PAUL 3.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the fileof'this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS REEVES.

Number Name Date 2,065,197 Reeves Dec. 22, 1936 2,089,711 I Reeves Aug.10, 1937 2,140,942 Reeves Dec. 20, 1938 2,183,267

Rieser Dec. 12, 1939

